Review roundup: Palm's Pre and its fledgeling WebOS

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  • Reply 61 of 275
    m2002brianm2002brian Posts: 258member
    Why are people still comparing it to LAST years iPhone. That would be like Car and Driver comparing the New Corvette to last Years 911. As awesome as some may think this new device is, maybe you should wait until the new iPhone comes out to make any direct comparisons.
  • Reply 62 of 275
    wilcowilco Posts: 985member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by drdb View Post


    maybe people just want to use the work electricity instead of their own at night?



  • Reply 63 of 275
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by m2002brian View Post


    Why are people still comparing it to LAST years iPhone. That would be like Car and Driver comparing the New Corvette to last Years 911. As awesome as some may think this new device is, maybe you should wait until the new iPhone comes out to make any direct comparisons.



    It will be, but Palm has been very open about their product and Apple, as usual, hasn?t said anything about the next iPhone HW and associated SW features. For this reason we can only compare it to the current iPhone, which is why it?s important for Palm to launch it before the next iPhone is announced. They need the first comparisons to be against the current device running 2-year old HW. As soon as the iPhone is launched we?ll see new comparisons.
  • Reply 64 of 275
    m2002brianm2002brian Posts: 258member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    I guess you never owned a digital camera?

    My point is the more apps and bullsheet added to these devices, a swappable battery is mandatory- like a camera.



    I have a sony DSC-750, it takes well over 400 pics at 7mps one one charge. Maybe you need a better camera. Also don't leave data connections on if they aren't needed. No matter the phone it will kill it fast if your "connected". Thirdly, are you human? Most people tend to get smarter as they get older.
  • Reply 65 of 275
    johnqhjohnqh Posts: 242member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    Does one exist? Everyone I know is constantly charging their iPhone all day at work and using while it's charging!



    When I come to my office, I plug in my iPhone. Hooking up iPhone is not just for battery. It is about syncing and I also hook up my speakers to the dock audio-out so I can hear my music. People are just used to plugging in the iPhone because it is part of their computing experience, battery is only a small portion.



    For normal to heavy use, iPhone has no problem lasting the whole day. I am talking about reasonably heavy uses - including heavy web browsing for hours during the day, and gaming etc.



    It won't last for extreme uses.



    Actually, vacation usage is pretty light, since you will take the iphone out only occasionally. iPhone will definitely last for your weekend/vacation. You can take 1000 photos, browse the web for two hours and still have enough juice left.



    Real extreme usage happens on airplanes. You may be reading ebooks or playing games for 10 hours non-stop. That will drain iPhone.



    However, as I posted earlier, certain activities will use more battery. As you posted, a major one is video recording. I believe the battery usage is exactly why Apple left it out. Software encoding will run down the battery in 40 minutes or 1 hour. That's why I believe the next iPhone will have hardware encoding, and even with the iPhone 3.0 OS, older iPhones won't have it because older iPhones do not have the encoding chip.



    I have used iPhone for a year or so. I only run out of battery maybe three or four times, and it is always because I forgot to plug in the night before.



    From your posts, it seems you do not have an iPhone. I don't blame you for thinking it is a problem, but believe me, it is a non-issue for most people.
  • Reply 66 of 275
    dreyfus2dreyfus2 Posts: 1,072member
    No opinion on the hardware part before I can hold one, no need for a physical keyboard though. I type in four different languages every day and no physical keyboard can cope with that anyhow. Replying to an email from my French father-in-law would require the better part of a week on this thing.



    I like the Cards approach, but this merged address list and depending on Google services for everything seems like a bad idea. E.g. I use the "Remember the Milk" service for task management (and, yep, there's an app for that) ? they also integrate with Google Labs, so you can have these tasks show up in Gmail and Google Calendar... the feature breaks multiple times a year; every time Google performs a minor change, the developers of dependent products have to rush out adjustments. Having core functionality of a smartphone completely depending on Google's beta software seems like a risky approach. I also hate Google's approach of automatically adding each and every address as a "suggested contact" without giving the user any control over it. As a business, I would not even consider it.



    What struck me with these Engadget videos is something else... while quite a few things look slicker than on the iPhone, quite a few parts of the operation look extremely complicated. You have a drop-down menu, gestures, a touchscreen, a separate touch area plus the keyboard. Certain actions require combining physical input using more than one of these interface parts (press the touch area + C, V or X for copy and paste, press a button on the keyboard plus swipe on the screen to select text, swipe up at different speeds to distinguish between launcher and quick launcher, wtf?). Does not really convince me. One of the main features of the original iPhone was 100% usability of all functions; according to these videos, the Pre is a lot more geeky.
  • Reply 67 of 275
    chronsterchronster Posts: 1,894member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by m2002brian View Post


    Why are people still comparing it to LAST years iPhone. That would be like Car and Driver comparing the New Corvette to last Years 911. As awesome as some may think this new device is, maybe you should wait until the new iPhone comes out to make any direct comparisons.



    What else can they compare it to? It seems as though almost every review of anything techy I see gets compared to something these days.



    When you look at video card reviews, they always stack the fps results against other video cards in the same game. When you look at camera reviews, they always compare the functions to other cameras in the same price range. When you look at car commercials, they are CONSTANTLY comparing cars saying this has more of this than that and blah blah blah.



    My point is, people want reviews now, and comparisons are just a natural part of a review. Nobody knows the full extent of what the next iphone will bring so comparing it to last years is all they can do.



    Trust me, when the new iphone comes out, reviewers WILL compare it to the Pre.





    I think the Pre has turned out to be decent. I wouldn't say it's better than the iPhone, but it definitely has a great start. Compared to iphone 1.0, it's good, but that's not reality. Nobody will compare this and the very first iphone running the very first version of the os.
  • Reply 68 of 275
    wilcowilco Posts: 985member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by m2002brian View Post


    Thirdly, are you human? Most people tend to get smarter as they get older.



    That means so much, coming from the person who titled their post "wierd."
  • Reply 69 of 275
    johnqhjohnqh Posts: 242member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    It will be, but Palm has been very open about their product and Apple, as usual, hasn?t said anything about the next iPhone HW and associated SW features. For this reason we can only compare it to the current iPhone, which is why it?s important for Palm to launch it before the next iPhone is announced. They need the first comparisons to be against the current device running 2-year old HW. As soon as the iPhone is launched we?ll see new comparisons.



    Where have you been?



    Most of iPhone OS 3.0's features have been announced at MacWorld 2009, and developers have been testing the beta since then. You can find the video on the keynote.
  • Reply 70 of 275
    chronsterchronster Posts: 1,894member
    So I've read a lot of the reviews, and although the Pre looks cool, I think I'm still going to go with a Touch Pro 2 lol.
  • Reply 71 of 275
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Personally, i don?t believe in good or evil as we define it, but I do believe that Google will work for their best interests as a publicly traded company. That said, it does appear that Google?s current longterm business practices are good for us. In a similar vein does anyone think that Apple?s open-source support is altruistic in any way?



    I don't think it has anything to do with open-source support, or at most, it's an extremely tangential issue. It has to do with controlling and collecting information -- whether that be through web tracking, gmail, google docs, wave, orphaned books or your personal PIM information -- and what they will do with that information. I certainly think they will, "work for their best interests as a publicly traded company," and I don't think that will be good for any of us in the long-term. I know they will collect as much information on me as they can, but I certainly don't want to make it any easier for them.
  • Reply 72 of 275
    wnursewnurse Posts: 427member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by .:R2theT View Post


    Aren't MS shareholders going to get sick of them supplying loss-leaders just maintain a bit of the pie? WinMo? Zune? What other parts of tech can they lose money in? Just asking.



    As for the Pre, I don't see how they are going to garner enough people to make this thing profitable seeing how many subscriber that Sprint has been losing.



    Most people will not see this as cheaper than the iPhone. $250 a year is nothing.



    No applications to speak of. Apple has a huge head start.



    Apple will surely disable the iTunes syncing thing. If Palm doesn't have the licenses then no way is Apple going to let that continue.



    The only two things I can see that this phone has is a physical keyboard, for those that think they need one, and it isn't an iPhone, for those that don't want to drink the Apple Kool-Aid(in spite of the fact that it is so tasty!).



    Let me answer this one at a time



    1. No, MS shareholders will not get tired because windows and word are huge money makers and microsoft can always recoup cost via those two apps.. also, ms is not losing money.. they don't build phones, only the software..

    2. The pre will get people.. more people that the treo gets and palm is still in business after selling the treo (which as you know sucks).. i have a treo and will be updating to the pre.. a lot of people have treo's.. my wife does not have a treo and she will get a pre.. palm will do fine with this product..

    3. When the iphone came out, it too did not have apps.. what's your point?. The pre will eventually have apps. Obviously, people bought the iphone even though there were no apps initially.. you wanna know why CAUSE THEY WERE BUYING A PHONE!!. Yes, it's truly amazing that people in this day and age forget that most people buy a phone to make a call.. the apps are extra. I've never bought a phone for the apps (heck, i don't even know what apps are available for the iphone). only geeks buy a phone for the apps.. most people buy a phone cause it's either 1. cool, 2. easy to use or 3. their friends rave about their phone and then they want one too. My niece just got an iphone as a graduation gift.. not once did she inquire about what apps is available.. she could care less.. i am sure she cares once she gets the phone but that was not a consideration for her wanting an iphone.. she wanted one cause it was cool.

    4. Apple disable syncing?.. what are you talking about?.. did apple previously enable syncing to a palm pre?.. when did that happen?.

    5. I want a palm pre cause i am on sprint and it's plans are cheaper than AT&T also cause i don't like the iphone. It's a big phone.. even my old beat up sucky treo is smaller than an iphone. (although the iphone is thinner). Also, i've played around with an iphone.. i prefer a physical keyboard.. one thing i think palm should do is give option of software keyboard. I hope they rectify that and upgrade the phone to have a software keyboard.. not everyone wants a physical keyboard. I heard though that palm will come out with other versions of the pre and one of the versions will not have a physical keyboard.. i hope that is true.. they need to provide options.
  • Reply 73 of 275
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by johnqh View Post


    Where have you been?



    Most of iPhone OS 3.0's features have been announced at MacWorld 2009, and developers have been testing the beta since then. You can find the video on the keynote.



    That is the v3.0 that all iPhones will get. Apple has not stated what the new iPhone HW will be, nor has it stated what the associated SW features will be. IOW, things like the compass and video recording that developers have pulled from the iTunes and SDK codebase.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by chronster View Post


    So I've read a lot of the reviews, and although the Pre looks cool, I think I'm still going to go with a Touch Pro 2 lol.



    For your phone?
  • Reply 74 of 275
    ibillibill Posts: 400member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by slapppy View Post


    Speaking of HotSync, that POS was never properly coded for the Mac. Palm pretty much treated Mac users 3rd class citizens with it.



    I'm with Sprint, but this is exactly why I will probably pass on the Pre. I've generally thought well of Palm's products, but the cold shoulder they give to Mac users is a show stopper for me.
  • Reply 75 of 275
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    problems and no way will i even consider switching

    reviews have stated minimal aps and when an app was downloaded it crashed the phone and all that data was lost, and was able with online backup to get most of it back--holy molly, some back!!! probably the most important stuff lost (i'll try to find the link)



    no video

    NO VOICE DIALING-WTF--come on you had all this experience with other cellphones and this is dropped!!!!



    minimal apps and poor sdk, developer support

    less battery life than iphone

    no thank you



    take over bait,
  • Reply 76 of 275
    macnycmacnyc Posts: 342member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    Funny- right? No I just want to see it . Seems like it's decent for a first gen- you must agree. We can certainly give it a 2 year slack for video like the iPhone can't we?



    What? LOL! You want to give it a TWO YEAR slack?! When have you ever given an Apple product anything but a "I want it yesterday"?!
  • Reply 77 of 275
    macnycmacnyc Posts: 342member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    I guess you never owned a digital camera?

    My point is the more apps and bullsheet added to these devices, a swappable battery is mandatory- like a camera.



    "Mandatory"?! Are you teckstud or teckdictator?



    Get over your swappable battery already! It's cheaper just to buy a $15 dollar add on to the iphone. That is if your really need it so bad. No one I know ever carries around a replacement battery, regardless of the type of phone they have.
  • Reply 78 of 275
    chronsterchronster Posts: 1,894member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    For your phone?



    Yeah man. I've got a touch pro now, and I absolutely love it, but the tp2 looks like what I want. The 16:9 display will be better for web browsing and watching movies. Plus, all the apps I have now will work on it since they're both based on WM. I've also heard people talking about hdmi out and while I don't expect to be running hd movies on the thing, it still will be a major improvement over the standard rca tv out the Touch Pro has.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iBill View Post


    I'm with Sprint, but this is exactly why I will probably pass on the Pre. I've generally thought well of Palm's products, but the cold shoulder they give to Mac users is a show stopper for me.



    Out of curiosity, what phone are you working with now?

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NOFEER View Post


    problems and no way will i even consider switching

    reviews have stated minimal aps and when an app was downloaded it crashed the phone and all that data was lost, and was able with online backup to get most of it back--holy molly, some back!!! probably the most important stuff lost (i'll try to find the link)



    no video

    NO VOICE DIALING-WTF--come on you had all this experience with other cellphones and this is dropped!!!!



    minimal apps and poor sdk, developer support

    less battery life than iphone

    no thank you



    take over bait,



    Well they said video is coming, and the crash issue seems to be something an over the air update can fix. Early adopters always take a risk with new technology which is why the true test will be in a few months, when Palm's had a chance to iron out the kinks. It's all at it's infant stage after all.



    In regards to switching, people said the same thing about the iphone when it came out. It had it's fair share of problems also.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macnyc View Post


    What? LOL! You want to give it a TWO YEAR slack?! When have you ever given an Apple product anything but a "I want it yesterday"?!



    LOL. Maybe he secretly holds Apple to a higher standard, or thinks much more of them ;P
  • Reply 79 of 275
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by chronster View Post


    Yeah man. I've got a touch pro now, and I absolutely love it, but the tp2 looks like what I want. The 16:9 display will be better for web browsing and watching movies. Plus, all the apps I have now will work on it since they're both based on WM. I've also heard people talking about hdmi out and while I don't expect to be running hd movies on the thing, it still will be a major improvement over the standard rca tv out the Touch Pro has.



    I gotcha. I read ?Touch? and thought of the iPod Touch, and figured the ?Pro 2? was a reference to the next generation device coming out in the fall. I forgot about the HTC device.
  • Reply 80 of 275
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by drdb View Post


    No. not the end of the story. You then have to ask the question do you want to go messing about swapping batteries? How many do you have to keep around?



    I've had mobile phones for nearly 10 years now and I've never kept a spare battery, I expect enough life from the one already in there to get me through.



    Let's not forget that until iPhone 2.1 OS came out, the iPhone 3G's battery life was complete shiite. My iPhone 3G died after 24 hours of not being plugged in. In fact I completely panicd when I woke up the next morning and found my iPhone dead--I contemplated taking it to the Genius Bar until I realized that all iPhone just had a really, really crappy battery life.



    I expect the Pre's battery life to improve with their software updates as well.
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